PolarAlign
4+

Screenshots

Description

PolarAlign is used as a reference to help "polar align" an equitorial telescope mount that has a Polar Alignment scope. PolarAlign uses iPhone's Location Service to obtain your current latitude and longitude, although they can be entered manually.

The screen shows the position of Polaris if you are in the northern hemisphere or Sigma Octanis if you are in the southern hemisphere. It also displays your latitude, longitude, altitude and universal time, along with the local sidereal time (LST) and hour angle (H.A.) of Polaris.

The view can be zoomed by double tapping the screen. The PolarAlign generic reticle can be set to inverted, corrected, or right angle, to match the polar finder. Alternatively, three different Takahashi reticles or the Astro-Physics RAPAS reticle can be selected.

PolarAlign has an "augmented reality" capability which allows an iPhone to be mated to a polar finder scope, if you build a simple adapter.

What’s New

Version History

6.5

Jan 17, 2019

Internal updates.

6.4

Sep 28, 2017

Internal updates.

6.3

Jan 30, 2017

Bug fix to correct text output of declination seconds.

6.2

Jan 6, 2017

Added support for Sky-Watcher 2012 2020 2028 reticle.

6.1

Sep 20, 2016

Updates for iOS 10

6.0

Mar 4, 2016

Added 5 reticles. Four are for Takahashi polar finders and one is for the corrected right-angle Astro-Physics RAPAS finder.

5.3

Oct 15, 2015

Minor changes for iOS 9. Added help file.

5.2

Apr 23, 2015

Recompile for iOS 8.3

5.1

Oct 31, 2014

Updated camera screen to allow for more precise dragging and positioning of reticule.Internal code updates.

5.0

Oct 14, 2014

Code upgrades and fix to allow accelerometer to work on iOS 8.0 and above.

3.03

3.02

3.01

3.0

The augmented reality camera function was upgraded and has it's own zoom slider and the ability to save camera settings. Local Sidereal Time "LST" is now displayed with the Hour Angle.

2.1

Oct 24, 2011

Added Hour Angle and minor GUI updates.

2.0

Mar 14, 2011

Added the ability to toggle between inverted view and corrected view.

Added an iPad interface.

Added an augmented reality capability for iPhones that uses the camera to overlay or superimpose PolarAlign's reticle on top of the mount's polar finder reticle. This can speed up the alignment process while removing doubt concerning pointing accuracy. It can also be used to ensure proper collimation of the polar finder's reticle.

1.3

1.2

Aug 23, 2010

Minor visual bug fix. Interpretation of longitude at the screen bottom was incorrect if user was located between 0 and -.9999 west.

1.1

Jun 5, 2010

Ability to Zoom view for better resolution and visibility. Display longitude and latitude using labels to save space. Date and Altitude labels were added. Changed color and brightness settings for better visibility in different lighting conditions.

1

May 24, 2010

Jan 17, 2019

Version 6.5

Internal updates.

Ratings and Reviews

2.8 out of 5

5 Ratings

5 Ratings

747whaledriver
,06/19/2018

Nothing user-friendly or intuitive about this app

Fascinates me that people rate a program five stars without the slightest explanation, program guide, or tutorial of how it works? Did people learn this app using ESP? There is nothing about this app which is self-exclamatory, intuitive, or user-friendly. That there are a few years-old reviews (nothing more recent that 2 years old) should tell you how relevant or actively used this program is: it is a loser. Save your money, because this is useless.

The last update was eight months ago? Seriously?

747whaledriver
,06/19/2018

Nothing user-friendly or intuitive about this app

Fascinates me that people rate a program five stars without the slightest explanation, program guide, or tutorial of how it works? Did people learn this app using ESP? There is nothing about this app which is self-exclamatory, intuitive, or user-friendly. That there are a few years-old reviews (nothing more recent that 2 years old) should tell you how relevant or actively used this program is: it is a loser. Save your money, because this is useless.

The last update was eight months ago? Seriously?

cystokid5549
,11/20/2014

Tremendous program!

I agree with the other 5 star reviewers. This program is very easy to use. The iPhone adapter to attach to the polar telescope is very easy to use. I have an Orion Atlas EQG mount and found that a 1.25" PVC pipe fits better than the 2" one called for. Also, I simply use rubber bands to hold the iPhone in place rather than the Velcro straps. Regardless, the program gives absolute unparalleled accuracy in polar alignment, far better than one can achieve by eyeball alone. A required program, as far as I am concerned. Orion and Celestron need to routinely supply this program and an adapter with each mount purchase. This is probably the best astro program I have ever purchased! The author responded almost immediately to update a few things when iOS 8 came out!

cystokid5549
,11/20/2014

Tremendous program!

I agree with the other 5 star reviewers. This program is very easy to use. The iPhone adapter to attach to the polar telescope is very easy to use. I have an Orion Atlas EQG mount and found that a 1.25" PVC pipe fits better than the 2" one called for. Also, I simply use rubber bands to hold the iPhone in place rather than the Velcro straps. Regardless, the program gives absolute unparalleled accuracy in polar alignment, far better than one can achieve by eyeball alone. A required program, as far as I am concerned. Orion and Celestron need to routinely supply this program and an adapter with each mount purchase. This is probably the best astro program I have ever purchased! The author responded almost immediately to update a few things when iOS 8 came out!

johnw3d
,11/06/2012

Fantastic, getting ~ 1arcmin alignments with the AR mode on an Atlas

You will need to build the mounting bracket described on the support site in order to use the augmented-reality mode, and develop some facility in getting the iPhone camera aligned with the polar scope, but it works beautifully. I'm getting 0.5 to 1.5 arcminute alignments on my Atlas mount with no drift-align, amazing.

And thanks for adding the multi-year declination rings!

Highly recommended, but be prepared to put in some effort to get the value.

johnw3d
,11/06/2012

Fantastic, getting ~ 1arcmin alignments with the AR mode on an Atlas

You will need to build the mounting bracket described on the support site in order to use the augmented-reality mode, and develop some facility in getting the iPhone camera aligned with the polar scope, but it works beautifully. I'm getting 0.5 to 1.5 arcminute alignments on my Atlas mount with no drift-align, amazing.

And thanks for adding the multi-year declination rings!

Highly recommended, but be prepared to put in some effort to get the value.